The subject of this week’s ‘Blogger Beat Down’ is… AOLTV’s Mo Ryan, who in a post earlier in the week asserted that FOX’s swift cancellation of LONE STAR is a “symptom of everything that has gone wrong at the broadcast networks.”
Our Take: As much as it pains us to say this to the usually spot-on Mo Ryan fresh off her recent inclusion to the Peabody Awards Board (Seriously folks, if you’re not familiar with her work, she’s kind of a big deal), blaming the “broadcast networks” for the cancellation of LONE STAR is the TV critic equivalent of spinning-off LAW & ORDER yet again (Read: the easy way out!) If anything, FOX’s attempt to think differently by offering up a procedural-free hour-long drama starring a morally dubious protagonist should be applauded. It was a risky gamble that failed to pay off, big time.
As far as who to blame, the cancelation of LONE STAR says a lot less about everything that is wrong at the broadcast networks — which while far from perfect continue to produce a handful of surprisingly stellar shows such as GLEE, COMMUNITY, MODERN FAMILY, THE GOOD WIFE among others — and a lot more about everything that is wrong with the viewing public. How else to explain last night’s ratings results that saw more Americans tune into $#*! MY DAD SAYS and OUTSOURCED over the likes of 30 ROCK and FRINGE. We’re just sayin’ 
